Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games gets off to rocky start



News Desk, Barta24.com
Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games

Olympic ticket sales for Paris Games

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Organizers of next year’s Paris Olympics promised relatively modest prices and “egalitarian” access to events, thanks to an online system meant to revolutionize ticket sales and bring the masses to stadiums and arenas for as little as $26.

As the month-long opening round of sales winds down, however, many “lucky” winners chosen to shop for the first 3 million tickets (out of 10 million total) are feeling frustrated, angry and cheated because their only option during the 48-hour purchasing window was paying at least 200 euros ($212) per ticket for the few remaining events on offer. And because the ticketing system requires buying packages for multiple sports, overall costs for many buyers ran into thousands of dollars.

By the time English teacher Amélie Beney and her 9-year-old son won the lottery last week to log in to the Olympic ticket office, affordable tickets for many events were gone, and all but one of their preferred sports — BMX, water polo and soccer — was sold out.

There were tickets for a soccer match at 50 euros ($53) but Beney would also have to buy at least two tickets for two additional events. Available tickets included basketball or handball at 150 euros ($160), swimming at 230 euros ($244) and a whopping 690 euros ($732) for a qualifying event in track and field.

   

PM's message to Shakib led team before World Cup



Sports Desk Barta24.com Dhaka
PM's message to Shakib led team before World Cup

PM's message to Shakib led team before World Cup

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The Bangladesh team is now in India to play in the World Cup. The team has already played a preparatory match. After that, the preparation match against England will be played tomorrow(Sunday). Before that, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave a message to Shakib Al Hasan's team.

The Prime Minister gave the message in an interview during her US visit. In the interview given to Voice of America, she said, 'We always hope that we can show a good game in the World Cup. This is my word to them, let the honor of Bangladesh be maintained, they will pour all their ability in that way and play with sincerity. That's what I want. If you play well, you can get good results. I am always optimistic.

After that she said that she had contact with the team before the trip. She said, 'I always have contact with them. I talked to them before coming. Talk to the players too. Keep in touch with the organizers. I always take care. My aim is always to make our boys and girls do well in sports. And there are all kinds of cooperation.'

Bangladesh's World Cup mission begins with a match against Afghanistan on October 7. 

 

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Bangladesh gained confidence in a roaring victory



Sports Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
Bangladesh gained confidence in a roaring victory

Bangladesh gained confidence in a roaring victory

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The turn of events of the last few days has only dragged Bangladesh cricket backwards. Just before the World Cup, something that is not good, who does not know! But it was important to push those negativity aside and focus back on cricket. Bangladesh got that chance in the warm-up match against Sri Lanka. Bangladesh took it very well. The Lankans lost by a huge margin of 7 wickets. The Bangladesh team without Shakib Al Hasan managed to regain the all-important confidence before the World Cup.

In the Asia Cup, they won two out of five matches. Then Bangladesh lost to New Zealand in the last home series. The graph of the team's performance was downwards. After that, just before and after the announcement of the team, there was a lot of trouble with the seniors; the attention was diverted from cricket! Add to that the injury of Captain Shakib Al Hasan the night before the match. Before the start of the match, it seemed that it was not possible for Bangladesh to be on the back foot.

Shakib is not there, along with deputy Nazmul Hossain Shanto; In the absence of both, Mehdi Hasan Miraj was made the captain. But the luck of the toss went with Sri Lanka. When Sri Lanka reached the three-figure mark without losing a wicket, the innings had not even completed 15 overs. After that, Bangladesh came back in a great way. Credit to the bowlers and fielders for that. Sheikh Mehdi Hasan started it. With his three wickets, Mehdi Hasan Miraj, Nasum Ahmed, Shariful Islam and Tanjim Shakib's bowling, Bangladesh held the Lankans down and got a target of 264 runs.

No more mistakes from there. Two openers Tanjid Tamim and Liton Das gave Bangladesh a strong base. The team's 131 runs in 20 overs made the match almost certain. However, even after the return of Liton who scored a personal 61 runs, the fear of losing the way could not be ruled out. Mehdi Hassan Miraj did not let that fear come true. He started with Tanjid in steady batting, then finished with Mushfiqur Rahim with a cool head.

Tanjid may regret. Solid got off to a great start, a century just before the World Cup could have boosted his confidence manifold. But what has happened is less? After a long 'drought', the whole team should be confident in this win. For now, this confidence is a bigger achievement than winning this match. 

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Shakib blames Tamim for Afghanistan series defeat!



Sports Desk Barta24.com Dhaka
Shakib blames Tamim for Afghanistan series defeat!

Shakib blames Tamim for Afghanistan series defeat!

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Shakib Al Hasan is not sparing Tamim Iqbal at all. On Wednesday (September 27) in a conversation with a private TV channel, the Bangladesh captain made several explosive comments. At the beginning of the second part of the interview, Shakib appeared in a sullen manner. He directly targeted teammate Tamim.

Shakib blamed Tamim for the ODI series loss at home against Afghanistan last July. Feeling emotional after the loss in the first ODI of the series, Tamim's retirement pushed the team towards series defeat, Shakib said, 'Losing the series with Afghanistan is one person's mistake, the captain's mistake. After losing the first game we had two games in hand. Nowhere in the world have I seen a captain come after a match and get emotional and say that I will not play cricket anymore.'

Shakib did not hesitate to question Tamim's sense of responsibility at this time, 'I think if the captain (Tamim) had a sense of responsibility he would not have done it.'

According to Shakib, Tamim's decision left the team in a 'bad situation' midway through the series. Bangladesh lost the second match of that series to Afghanistan by 142 runs. In the last match, the representatives of red and green escaped the hands of white wash by snatching victory by 7 wickets.

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Shakib will leave the captaincy after the World Cup



Sports Desk Barta24.com Dhaka
Shakib will leave the captaincy after the World Cup

Shakib will leave the captaincy after the World Cup

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In the afternoon, Tamim Iqbal explained the reasons for his exclusion from the World Cup team in a video message. Tamim pointed the finger at the BCB officials without mentioning anyone's name directly. He said that even after being fit, he asked the board officials to drop him from the team after asking him to change his batting position. In an interview with a private TV channel at night, Shakib discussed more openly. His distance with Tamim also came up on several important issues.

After Tamim Iqbal left the leadership, the board selected Shakib as the captain for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. In an interview on Wednesday (September 27), Shakib said that he is leaving the leadership after the World Cup, 'This World Cup is over. I will not (captain) a day after that. It is best if there is no captain. Does captaincy add any value at this stage of my career? I don't think so.'

Shakib's name did not appear in Tamim's video message, but the Tamim-context came up in Shakib's interview. It gave wind to the long-standing rumors about the conflict between Shakib and Tamim. Shakib felt that Tamim's injury to his ankle after being asked to change his batting position was just childish, 'If he (Tamim) sometimes plays at 3-4 or comes into batting for the needs of the team, is there much of a problem? It actually seems to me more like a childish person. Everyone should be willing to play anywhere the team needs. Team First.'

Apart from this, Shakib said that he had no role in appointing Chandika Hathurusinghe as the coach of the team for the second term, two senior cricketers Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah Riyad coming and going to the team. Even the decision to cut Tamim from the World Cup team was mentioned by the Bangladesh captain in that interview which is being discussed as the sole decision of the board.

It is to be noted that the World Cup Bangladesh fleet led by Shakib left Dhaka for Guwahati on a chartered plane at 4 pm Bangladesh time on Wednesday to participate in the World Cup.

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